Beach House in Brazil by ArqDonini

Jungle beach house in São Sebastião, Brazil designed by ArqDonini architects.

Set inside a fantastic preserved area of rain forest, on the coast of São Sebastião, just 10Km from Barra do Una Beach, this house respects the environment due to the logistics of its construction.

The adopted system was a mix of dry solutions, iron frame, corrugated panels, dry wall, still deck, ready made aluminium windows etc. Building in the forest is not easy work, so we tried to avoid as much as possible sending too many people to work there. What usually happens with new constructions by the beach, specifically in this region, is that many people go to work there and never go back to the city, this in turn has created a huge number of slums.

We attempted to send this house to the site almost ready. Unfortunately, in Brazil we don’t have good systems in place for this process, so we had to invent one.

Because of the topography, the ground floor is not on the ground but almost flying supported by columns and bins made of special oxidized steel. This level opens up to a large area, connected to the outside by sliding glass doors and windows. The upper level, with three bedrooms rooms and three bathrooms, also shares the same lush green view. A rooftop and a naturally paved open basement complete the collection of possibilities for relaxation. We also studied Vedic Architecture to find the best solutions for wind flux for ventilation and to take advantage of maximum sunlight.

This helped us in choosing the square shape (a sacred shape for them) as the mathematic basis for creating all the spaces, including the most important one: the empty centre, where all energies can freely run.
For this enchanting work we won an important “ecological” award here in Brazil, the Planeta Casa award, for which we are justly proud.